This invention relates to Chinese cooking and specifically to a method and apparatus that a restaurant might use for automated Chinese stir-fry cooking which does not require the operator to possess knowledge or skills in the art of Chinese stir-fry cooking. This invention incorporates steps including entering and storing recipe data, selection of a recipe from a menu, addition of food and liquid ingredients at the proper intervals, temperature control throughout the cooking process, stirring of the cooking food, and timing of the cooking process, all performed automatically by a computer control system.